Chief Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated multiple projects, amounting to around Rs 651 crore, by the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) in the city on Friday, terming them as “poor-centric projects”. Modi, who steered clear of any controversies in his public address at Manjalpur Sports Complex, said, “sportsman spirit and politics” are two words often repeated in every walk of life.

Before his address, the Vadodara BJP unit presented Modi with a huge memento titled “From CM to PM” — depicting a model of Modi marching from Gujarat towards India. Modi spoke highly of the state government schemes that were friendly for the “poor”. He especially spoke of the 41,000 crore spent on EWS housing schemes across the state. Modi, who arrived in Vadodara at around 7 pm, about 2 hours behind schedule, inaugurated the Atladara-Kalali and Soma Talav Railway Overbridges, Manjalpur Sports complex, LED lighting system project for Vadodara city, 58 new anganwadis, Gorwa ITI building, a Multiple Counselling Centre by the Vadodara police Suraksha Setu, Gotri Medical College and Hostel, the foundation of the solar top panels capable of generating 10 MW electricity from the Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Limited (SSNNL) and the
under-construction GSRTC bus terminal.

Modi termed his SSNNL solar top panel project as an “out of the box” idea and said not many leaders have been able to envision such a project. “For Vadodara, this day is significant in terms of development. The visionary project of introducing solar top panels on a 10-km stretch of Narmada canals in Vadodara has the capacity to generate 10 MW electricity. It can help save water evaporation to a great extent and generate electricity to bring transmission losses in Vadodara to the lowest,” Modi said. Stressing on the importance of promoting sports in the country, Modi said only he who plays wins. “Sportsman spirit is a term we often hear in politics and it is a term that is associated with games too. Sports is an essential part of building the cities and only he who plays, wins.”

Modi was flanked by Ministers Anandiben Patel and Nitin Patel. Modi met youngsters in the audience, mostly school children, on his way to the dais. However, a faulty public address system left people disappointed as Modi remained inaudible for most parts of his 30-minutes-long speech. At two points during his speech, Modi turned to his officers to ask them if the microphone was faulty.